Ultra wideband (UWB) is a radio technology that may be used for short range high band width communications by using a large portion of the radio spectrum in a way that doesn't interfere with other more traditional “narrow band” uses. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), UWB may be used to refer to any radio technology having band width exceeding the lesser of 500 MHz or 20% of the arithmetic center frequency. Thus, generally, UWB is defined as 3.1-10.6 GHz. This is intended to provide an efficient use of scarce real band width while enabling both high data rate Personal Area Network (PAN) wireless connectivity and longer range, low data rate applications, as well as radar and imaging systems.
Examples of devices that operate utilizing UWB technology include, but are not limited to, mobile wireless devices (e.g., handset, hand-held and notebook-type devices), consumer electronic devices (e.g., digital camera, camcorder, MP3), and other UWB application areas (e.g., broadband wireless connectivity for a digital home application). As may be seen, these types of devices often operate within a PAN. Among the challenges with UWB applications is an effective UWB antenna. Often, UWB antennas tend to be large and are limited in capacity and balance such that they may require a Balun component. Additionally, achieving balanced feeding techniques in current UWB feeding designs is difficult and thus, the overall cost of a UWB system is often greater than desired.